The Jay and the Moon
Credit to Vee for making the clan . Credit to Brighty for the cover. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ This is Jaysong and Moonsplash, siblings in LakeClan. They weren't clanborn though. They were born to two rogues. Not many cats knew of their history. Moonsplash doesn't remember and Jaysong won't say. Until now. Prologue It's been so many moons, even seasons, since I left that life with my sister. Yet each memory is as sharp as a stone, piercing my mind, digging in everyday, just to remind me to never forget. And yet how could I? Moonsplash doesn't remember. It's a good thing. I don't want her to remember. I want her to be the same Moonsplash that I know of here. I want her to be cheerful, to be happy, to be innocent, and to be pure. I don't want her to remember the things that happened in the Twolegplace. Never. And yet it feels like I should tell someone. The stone keeps piercing me, urging me on, urging me to tell. I probably will tell. Possibly you. Just don't tell Moonsplash. Please. Chapter 1 I watch as Haven places one paw in front of the other, again and again, ever so quietly, until she finally pounces, digging her claws into the mouse's neck. Haven is my mother. I don't call her Mother, or Mom, or Momma, like Moon and other kits. It seems too young. She's a sleek, shining silver she-cat with really bright blue eyes. They're like light-bugs, always glowing in the darkness. Haven's really nice to me and Moon. She's never yelled at us, and has only lightly scolded us, like when I accidentally tore Brick's ear in a training exercise. Or when Moon wanted to sneak out to check out the Thunderpath by ourselves. Haven's a really good teacher. She knows all the tricks to hunting, like how to pad quietly so a mouse couldn't hear you, how to keep downwind from a rabbit to stop it from sniffing you out, and how to leap as high as a hawk to catch birds that were flying away. Haven places the mouse down in front of me and Moon. "Did you see what I did?" she asks. I nod. Moon dips her head up and down excitedly. "Can I try?" she squeaks, practically bouncing up and down on her tiny paws. I snort, and Haven flashed me a look. I stop my snort, and roll my eyes. Sometimes, Moon still acts like a newborn kit, but really, I enjoy it. Moon was like the bright light in our family, since I was pretty negative to be honest. Haven purrs. "Of course you can!" Moon sniffs really loudly, and I stifle my laughter as she starts padding around with her nose in the air, inhaling loudly. It was really funny, since sometimes, Moon over-exaggerates and looks as silly as a kit. My sister then drops down into a crouch, and in one swift movement, pounces on a mouse that had scuttled out of their hole just a heartbeat ago. I'll admit it, she was a really good hunter. "I got a mouse!" she squeals, her blue eyes shining. I smile at her. "Good job Moon!" Haven purrs in agreement. "Great! That was beautiful, Moon. Can you catch something, Jay?" I flick my tail. "If Moon can, I can!" Something catches my eye, and I look up to see a thrush landing onto a red box. Great! I'm amazing at jumping, so I can probably catch that! I trot up to the box, and wrinkle my nose in disgust as I catcth the scent of the box. It smells like rotting crowfood! I glare at the thrush. Stupid thrush! I have to hunt in a foul-smelling area because of you! I bare my teeth, and launch myself at the thrush, catching its wing between my teeth. It squawks, and pecks at me, and losing my balance, I fall off the box clumsily. The thrush was still in my teeth, and I batter at it, and it goes limp. "Nice thrush Jay!" Moon squeaks, and I rolled to my paws. "That was a great jump!" Haven meows, her tail curled around her paws. She glances down at our catch, two mice and a thrush, and she gets to her paws. "We have enough fresh-kill. Let's get back to home." I nod, while Moon bounces up and down with excitement of eating, and we pad back to our home. Chapter 2 I yawn, my jaws gaping as I blink my eyes. Moon was snuggled up against me, and I was snuggled up against Haven. Prince was curled next to his mate, his brown tabby flanks rising up and down slowly. Prince is my father, in case you haven't realized. He's a dark brown tabby tom with dark amber eyes that always make Prince look like he's thinking about something. Maybe he's thinking about the day he met Haven, where they met when he was a rogue and Haven was a kittypet, and they found each other at the birch tree. I really want to get up, but I would disturb Haven and Moon from their sleep, and probably wake up Prince while I'm at it. He's really good at listening, and can tell the difference between a mouse's pawsteps and a rabbit's. So I'm thinking. Thinking about a lot of stuff. I'm thinking about Rainy. She's that kittypet who lives a few tree-lengths away. She's really nice, and gets along well with Moon. Maybe I'll go visit her sometime. I lift my head up. Why not visit her right now? My head sinks back down. Because I'll wake Moon and Haven. So I roll around, and studied the roof of our den. It's actually this abandoned Twoleg shelter that Prince had been living in for his entire life, ever since his parents had lived here, and their parents, and so on. It's old, and creaky, and it has holes in it, but once you stuff the holes with moss and leaves, it's really not so bad. The den is made of wood, with all four sides boarded up and a little entrance for us to squeeze through. It's got an ancient, musty-wood smell in it, and I like it. It reminds me of the forest, where I've always wanted to go. Haven says not to go, since it was full of bone-eating wildcats, but I doubt it. What kind of cat would enjoy eating bones? That's just unnatural! I sigh, and a rumble makes my tail curl up. "Do you want to see Rainy?" I scramble to my paws to see Prince with his head up, ears flicking all over the place. "Yes please," I whisper. He grins at me, and heads toward the exit. "Well, hurry up then." I fluff out my blue-gray fur, and trot after him. Huh. Maybe I should just tell Prince next time. Chapter 3 I follow Prince out of our den, and into the main-stream of the Twoleg nests. The Twoleg nests are big, red, nests that Twolegs live, some varying in size and color. I've even seen a pink nest before! Rainy lives in the one three houses away, so Prince leads me there, and jumps onto the fence. I can't jump that high, so I have to scramble up there for a bit before I can balance on the fence. "Rainy!" I call, and the red flap of a wooden board opens to reveal Rainy. Rainy's a few moons older than me, but we get along really well, especially with Moon. They ramble on about the most random things and she doesn't seem to mind if Moon talks about something completely different from the first topic. She's one of the prettiest kittypets in the area, a spotted gray tabby cat with gorgeous green eyes. They look like orbs just reflecting everything. Of course, there are other cats I could mention, but she's one the cats I know pretty well. "Jay!" she mews happily, and trots up to the fence. Her pelt shines in the half-light. "Hi, Prince!" "Rainy," Prince meows, dipping his head, and looks at me. "I'm going to go hunt. Go back to the den by sunhigh, okay?" Okay, Prince," I reply, and watch as he jumps off the fence, and disappears into the waving ferns. Rainy jumps onto the fence with me. "So how was your sleep?" she asks, her eyes curious. "Well," I answer. "I slept plenty." Rainy purrs. "Did you have breakfast yet?" It took me a moment to realize what breakfast was. "No, I haven't had breakfaaaaaaaaast yet," I mew slowly, letting the foreign word wash over my tongue. "I haven't eaten yet." Rainy jumps down, and I follow her curiously. "You wait here. I'll get you some food," she tells me, and disappears back into her nest. "No, no, it's okay," I try to tell her, but she's already gone. "Oh, bother," I mutter. Haven and Prince are okay with us eating kittypet food, but they urge us to eat it only once in a while, since we'll grow up eventually and we'd have to know how to hunt. The other alternative is to become a kittypet, but where's the freedom in that? You'll never be able to feel the wind ruffle your scruff, what with that little piece of twine wrapped around it. You'll never be able to choose what you eat, or feel the juices build up in your mouth when you bite into a plump mouse. Rainy comes back, the bell on her twine jingling with what looks suspiciously like a leg in her mouth, and she puts it down in front of her on the rock. "Here, try some," she mews. "No thank you," I say politely as I can. "I can catch my own food." "Oh, come on!" she insists. "My housefolk won't mind, and I've already eaten." I hesitate, and she adds, "If you eat this, I won't make you do anything for two moons." I give in. What harm can it do if I eat this just this once? So I lower my head, open my jaw, and all the while closing my eyes, sink my teeth into the leg. Flavors explode in my mouth, and my eyes snap open. It's so rich and fatty, nothing like the thrush or sparrow I catch! Juices trickle down my jaw and into my mouth, and I swallow the mouthful. "Do you like it?" Rainy asks me, and I nod, forcing the mouthful down my throat. It was good, but it was so rich and different. I honestly preferred mouse over it any day, or even squirrel. "It's good, isn't it?" she asks, and I force a nod. I take another bite, and push it back to her. "You have the rest," I choke out, swallowing the meat. "I'm full." Rainy looks suspiciously at me. "Are you sure?" "Oh yes, very sure very sure," I assure her quickly. She nods, and tears off the remaining flesh. "It's called chicken," she explains. "My housefolk, they bring home this big fat bird called a chicken, and then they through it into a cage. It stays over fire, and then they eat it. Sometimes, when they can't finish it all, they give it to me." Her tongue swipes over her mouth. "I like it, especially over the kibble I'm getting." I nod, and when she turns around to groom her already-perfect pelt, I stuff some grass blades into my mouth to get rid of the rich taste. "So what do you wanna do?" Rainy asks. I shrug. "Anything, I guess. I've got until sunhigh, after all." "Well, you don't have much to do then." "Wha-" I glance up, and leap to my paws. "My great pelt, it's sunhigh already! I gotta go! See ya, Rainy!" "See ya!" she calls as I squirm through the hole in her fence, and make a dash for my den. Prince's gonna skin me alive. Chapter 4 Prince didn't exactly skin me, but he told me off, so it wasn't that bad. Haven and Moon were sharing a mouse and two sparrows with him, and as I settle down next to my littermate, she rips off the wing of the sparrow and nudges it toward me. "Here you go!" she mews cheerfully, and went back to stuffing her muzzle into the belly of the sparrow. "Thanks," I mew and I crunch on it happily, relishing the bloody flavor. "Chicken" was too rich for me. And I liked the feathers. So fuzzy and feathery. That made absolutely no sense at all. How do you describe feathers as feathery if they ARE feathers? Haven decides that she would be taking a nap, and Prince brings us outside the den, down to an old red wall. He squeezes under a hole, and me and Moon follow. "What are we doing today, father?" Moon asks as she squirms out of the hole. I squeeze more easily; I've got a thinner pelt than Moon and Prince do. "Fighting techniques," he answers, and he comes to an empty clearing, surrounded by more of the red wood and two big colorful boxes. I curl my lip when I remember the foul smell coming from the box where I caught my thrush. Prince turns to face us, his amber eyes serious. "Okay guys. When you're in this place, rogues sometimes come, and they sometimes attack you. You need to be ready to defend yourself. So, first basic move, the swipe. Come at me Jay," he orders. I hesitate, and then decide that Prince'll be fine. He's been living like this for a while, so he should be okay. I throw myself at him, and as he rears back on his back legs to counter me, I drop my upper body so that I should ram into his belly. I shoot my paws out, meaning to pummel his belly. I realize my mistake too late. Prince suddenly drops down on me, his two front paws catching me on the shoulder and I hit the ground with a THUD. Prince gets off me, and I lay there, groaning, my shoulders aching from the force of Prince's weight. "That hurt," I complain, wondering why I was such a fool to go at his belly when he was above me. I hear pawsteps bouncing toward me, and a cold nose sticks into my ear. I shriek, and roll over, to see a dark tortoiseshell she-kit laughing. "You shrieked!" she giggles, and I heard Prince rumbling with amusement. I roll over to face him, glaring at him, but he winks at me, and I sigh. "All right, all right, you got me," I grumble. "Now what's next?" Prince smiles and waits until Moon's laughing has died down, and begins. "Jay, that was an excellent feint. But the problem was, I could've easily shifted my weight downwards and squashed you. So next time when you feint, where would you want to go that would make it hard for me to counterattack?" Moon squeals, "Your side!" Prince smiles warmly at her. "Very good! When you attack one of my sides, I can twist that way, but twisting the other way would be hard for me. Moon, you try." Moon grins, and fast as lightning, she leaps at Prince's left side, her paws extended like she was going to jump on something. I couldn't help sniggering at her pose. Prince turns his shoulder away from Moon, but as Moon comes hurtling past her, her legs shoot out, whacking his shoulder before sliding to a stop onto the rock. I can't help laughing as she gets up, her left side smeared with dirt, and she gives me a happy grin. "Did I do well?" she asks as Prince pads toward her. Prince twitches his whiskers amusingly. "It was a good move, but you need to work on your landing." Moon's happiness didn't wash away from her. "Okay~! What's next?" Prince purrs, and I join him. Moon looks at us, confused, and starts purring with us for no absolute reason. Why am I purring? Moon didn't even think about his words like criticism, and was like an excited, newborn kit. I guess I'm purring because Moon's just so happy and innocent, and Prince knows that. I never want Moon to change. Ever. Chapter 5 I'm not tired. It's been a moon since the training exercise, and I can't sleep. I'll go exploring. What harm will it do? A lot, my head answers, and I roll my eyes. Suit yourself. I gently squeeze out from Haven's flank and Moon's tortoiseshell body, and I scamper out of the exit. Something's wrong.Terribly wrong. I let out a squeak as my paws skidded into something wet and cold, and as I glance around my surroundings, I let out a gasp. What happened? Everything's white, and cold, and wet, and- Really, really beautiful. I let my jaw drop open as I stared at the white landscape surrounding me. What happened to last sunrise, where everything was dry and crackly as brown-leaf was here? Maybe it what Prince and Haven told us, no-leaf. I could see why it was called no-leaf. All the trees had no leaves, and instead there was the white stuff. "It's snow," a voice behind me purrs, and I whip around to see Haven standing there. She's smiling at the white landscape, and as she catches my look of confusion, she explains, "The white stuff, it's called snow. It's rain really, just when it gets colder and it freezes a bit." "White stuff!" a voice squeaks from inside the den, and Moon comes barreling out, right into a lump of snow. She staggers backwards, and sneezes and shakes her pelt. "It's cold!" I snort. "Genius!" I mutter. Something white hits me in my flank, and I give a shrill yelp before I turn to see Prince at the entrance of the den, sitting back on his haunches and molding a ball of snow in his front paws. "Prince!" I protest, and I flick my long tail at him. Snow plasters over his muzzle, and he gives a surprised squeak. Moon laughs, along with Haven, and soon, we're all flicking snow at each other, and chasing each other around the thick snow. I notice that while Haven, Prince, and Moon have a relatively hard time getting out of the snow, I slip through it easily, like a duck gliding through water. Maybe it's because of my short fur. After a while, we all just collapse onto our sides, a bit out of breath, and when Moon announces she's hungry, I jump to my paws as an idea hits me. "I'll hunt," I mew, and as Haven and Prince agree, I head out toward the Pond. When I was thinking about a duck gliding through water, it had occurred to me that we had had duck only once before, when me and Moon were about a moon ago, so five moons ago. Haven had chewed it up for us, and I loved the fatty taste. Yes, it was richer than the chicken that Rainy had given me, but it was a lot more..... wild. All of this goes through my head as I pad down the trail to the Pond. The Pond is where most of the ducks stay. Some of the ducks don't stay here in no-leaf or brown-leaf, but the occasional one stays behind. I've seen them, and I've always wanted to hunt them, but Prince tells me when me and Moon are older. The Pond comes into view, and I stare at it for a while before noticing a weird sound, like a cat hacking on a furball. I sprint toward the lake to find it completely frozen, and in the middle of the ice, there's a duck! I laugh out loud. This is impossible! A duck is frozen along with the pond, and it's stuck in it! How stupid is that? I start to place a paw over the ice, but at the last second, I freeze. The ice might not be thick enough to hold my weight, and I might fall into the lake. Of course, I can swim, but the water's going to be so cold, I'm sure to die of the cold. To test the ice, I thump my paw on the ice, and it stayed were it was. So it was safe. Grinning, I charge toward the duck, my claws unsheathed and curving into the ice to help me get a grip on the ice. I'm nearing it, and finally, as I reach the duck, I twist my head, sinking my jaw into the base of its neck, and wrench it out of the ice. The duck squawks, and whacks me with its wing, although when I tighten my jaw, a snap shoots through my ears and the duck hangs limply from my mouth. I purr with satisfaction, and as I turn around, a flash of golden fur rams into me, and I feel claws sinking into my flank. Chapter 6 I hiss in surprise, and roll over onto my back. My opponent shrieks, and pummels me as I roll onto my side. I jump to my paws, and face her, and quickly scan her. She's a young, golden she-cat, just barely older than me, with a lighter underbelly and yellow eyes. Her fur is matted and grimy, and when I look closer, I realize she's starving. Her ribs are showing through her thick fur, and her bones are jutting out. Her yellow eyes are blazing with hunger. "Give it to me!" she snarls, and lunges at me. However, she was off-balanced, and I easily step away from her as she slides awkwardly to my side. She's panting loudly, like she's struggling for air. "Please, can I have it?" she asks, and with a jolt, I realize she's begging. She struggles to her paws. "Please?" she pleads, and I study her before I make my decision. She's clearly starving, and my family can cope easily. We can all hunt, and I feel like this cat here is feeding another or more. Maybe she's the only hunter. I make my decision. "Sure. Why not?" I nudge the duck over, and she stares at me. "Seriously?" she asks, and as I nod, a barrage of 'Thank you's' plows into me. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" I shake my head in annoyance. "Whoa! Slow down. What's your name?" "Goldie," she answers, and as she drags the duck away, I follow her cautiously. "Do you mind if I follow you?" I ask. She looks back, and shrugs. "Not really. Come on, my nest is this way." So I follow her. On the way to her nest, it occurs to me that I'll have to bring home something to my family, but I shrug it off. There's bound to be a mouse somewhere. She approaches a bush, and nudges away an overhanging ivy vine. "Fox!" she calls, and I notice a bedraggled ginger bundle huddled away in the middle of the bush. "I found food! And I made a new friend!" The tom, Fox, raises his head, and with a shock, I realize that his left eye was gouged out by some sort of predator, with a sinister scar ripping from his forehead to his chin. His ears were torn, his right missing, and on his spine are ugly scars. Fox seems to have given up already. "Oh, what the hey," he sighs, putting his head down. "Eat the food yourself. I'm just a waste of space, and just a waste of food." Goldie snorts, and tears off both wings and a leg, and nudges it toward him. "Go on now then, eat," she orders, and after a while, he reluctantly chews the wing. Goldie tears off the other leg, and puts it at my feet. "Anything else?" she asks. I'm surprised. She seemed so hungry, I expected her to just gulp down the entire thing for herself. But she's actually kind! "No, it's okay," I mew, and nudge the leg back to her. "I can catch something else, and besides, you looks like you need the food." She looks at me suspiciously, and then without warning, practically swallows the entire leg whole ravenously. She must be really hungry. Soon, Fox and her have completely devoured the duck, and look so content. "I've never eaten that much before," Goldie sighs, and Fox murmurs agreement. Goldie decides to start a conversation. "So, what's your name, stranger?" "Jay," I answer, and it's Fox who replies this time. "It suits you," he says. "Your blue-gray fur makes you look like a blue jay." "Aw, thank you," I say. "Did you get your name by your pelt color, cause you look like a fox with that ginger pelt." Fox lets out a barking laugh as Goldie shakes her head sadly. "No. I didn't have a name, since I was rogue, and this fox found me. Goldie saved me, and nursed me back. Since I didn't have a name, she gave me the name Fox." He twitches his ears. "The fox tore my right ear, nicked my left one a couple of times, took out my eye, and left a couple of scars on my spine." I let my eyes bulge. "Dang. You must be a pretty bulky cat." He laughs a bit less bitterly now. "You can say that, I suppose." "So where were you from, Goldie?" I ask, settling down into a more comfortable position. "I was a kittypet," she mews, licking her lips as she glances almost wistfully at the few duck bones left. "But there was a fire, and I left the house." I didn't know how to respond to that. Goldie notices this, and asks me, "Where are you from?" "Oh, my parents were loners, and I've got a sister," I meow. "So I'm living life as a rogue." Fox nods, and he sighs. He sighs a lot. "Rogues together," he says quietly. "Rogues indeed," I mew in a solemn tone. "Let us hereby declare us three cats as Rogues, rogues together and forever." Fox and Goldie burst out into laughter, and after a while, I join in. Why not? After a while, I realize it's sunhigh, and I tell Fox and Goldie I need to get going. They say their, good-byes, and as I pad toward my den, I think about my new friends, and smile silently. Chapter 7 I catch a mouse on the way back to our den, and as I drop it off, I decide to explore. Moon's off sleeping with Prince and Haven, so I think it's safe to go.__FORCETOC__ Category:Whitefeather's Fanfics I trot down the hard stone path of the Twolegplace, my claws clicking against the ground, and as I gaze at the bright red Twoleg nests, Category:Fanfics